Cover Illustration by Nathan Wyckoff
a publication of Silver Pen
Issue 14 August 2012
The Silver Pen Writers’ Association Presents a Silver Pen, Incorporated Publication
'Magination Magazine Director and Publisher: Sue Babcock Fiction Editor: Kellee Kranendonk Cover Art: Blast Off by Nathan Wyckoff ’Magination Magazine is a publication of Silver Pen, Incorporation, which is a non-profit organization focused on quality writing and reading. Kids’Magination Learning Center is a division of Silver Pen dedicated to children who are eager to write stories about the fantastic flights of their imaginations. Copyright ©2012. All reights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information contact sue@silverpen.org All stories herein have been compiled by Silver Pen, Incorporated under ’Magination Magazine. These are works of fiction. All characters and events protrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are fictitiously used.
www.kidsmagination.com
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About our Cover Illustrator
Nathan Wyckoff has been an illustrator, painter and writer on the scene for over a decade. Between gallery shows, Nathan frequently publishes illustrations and fiction in numerous magazines, recently being nominated for an AWP Intro Journal Award for his weird poetry. His online illustration portfolio can be viewed at nathanwyckoff. squarespace.com.
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Contents Contents
Connor Stuart and the Sky KNights
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by Jim Maher illustration by Nathan Wyckoff
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Fiction Connor Stuart and the Sky KNights by Jim Maher illustration by Nathan Wyckoff
The dust settled, and Connor gasped as he discovered a person groaning at the bottom of the rubble. Connor looked up through the gaping hole in the roof, and wondered how far this person had fallen to end up in the Stuart living room. “Hello?” Connor said, gingerly stepping through the rubble to get a closer look. “Anyone alive?” The person was wearing what must have been a very advanced suit of armour. “Get this off me,” the person whispered. Connor quickly removed the armour.
fell unconscious.
“Thank you,” said the man who had been wearing the armour. He gave Connor a small smile, then
A high-pitched beeping suddenly erupted from the pile of armour. He bent Page 1
down to investigate, and after a second or two of searching, found the source of the beeps. A small red button on the left glove of the armour was flashing and emitting the annoying sound. Connor wondered what he should do. It wasn’t his armour, so he shouldn’t be fooling around with it, but the beeping was clearly telling him that something was wrong. “Better push it,” he said, and did so. The beeping stopped at once, and the suit started humming instead. Connor took a step back, hoping he hadn’t broken the armour. It hummed louder, and with a great clattering and racket, lifted from the rubble and floated in mid-air. It suddenly zipped towards Connor and began attaching itself to him. Before he knew it, he was suited up head to toe. “Simon, report in,” said a voice from inside the helmet. Connor didn’t know what to do. Simon must have been the unconscious man now lying on what used to be the Stuart family roof. “Simon, report in,” the voice repeated. “This isn’t Simon,” he said. His curiousity was getting the better of him. “This is Connor.” Five agonizing seconds ticked by without a response. A piercing siren erupted in the helmet, so loud that Simon started to stir. “Stay where you are, son,” said the voice. “Retrieval is on the way.” “Retrieval?” asked Connor. Connor hit the deck as a flying horse swooped in through the front room window, smashing the glass and scattering it everywhere. The horse, a rich chestnut brown and bigger than a rhino, was saddled with another person in a very similar suit of armour to the one Connor was now wearing. “Connor, right?” asked the knight. “Yeah, that’s right,” said Connor, picking himself up and dusting off glass bits. “I’m Lady Wyndham. We’ve got a big problem, Connor.” “What?” “That’s not your armour, is it?” Page 2
Connor shook his head. “I didn’t think so,” said the knight. “That’s Sky Knight property.” “Sky Knight?” Connor asked. “We watch the skies. Meteorites, alien invasions, pretty standard stuff. I’m going to need that armour back.” “What about Simon?” “He’ll be fine. You’re in big trouble, though.” “Why? I tried to help him.” “That doesn’t mean you have to go stealing his armour. I don’t know what they’re going to do-” Lady Wyndham was interrupted by another piercing siren coming from the Sky Knight helmets. Connor cringed from the sound, but listened to the conversation. “Lady Wyndham, cancel Retrieval. The castle is under attack again,” said a very deep, soulful voice. “Who is it?” “Scorpio.” “Scorpio.” Lady Wyndham cursed under her breath. “What of the boy?” she asked. “Bring him. He’s already wearing the armour, and he’s the only help you’re going to get.” “Very well.” Lady Wyndham hopped back on the horse, and reached down and hoisted Connor up to sit down behind her. Connor couldn’t believe his luck. She let out a terrific ‘hyah!’ and the horse shot up into the sky. “Scorpio is a ten-storey tall, wicked fast and angry scorpion,” explained Lady Wyndham. “And right now he’s trying to destroy the Sky Knight castle. We can’t let that happen. The Sky Knight castle is the last post between Earth and the entire universe. We can’t let it fall.” Page 3
A single cloud floated at the very top of the sky, so high it had to be scraping outer space. Lady Wyndham guided the horse up and over the cloud, and as they soared higher, Connor gasped. An enormous castle stood in the middle of the cloud, bigger than his whole town below. “Is it made of clouds?” he asked. Lady Wyndham nodded. The horse raced up the side of the fluffy castle to the top of the tallest spire. Lady Wyndham landed and the horse shuffled to a stop. Connor fought back a scream as he finally saw Scorpio. The gigantic bug was as big as Lady Wyndham had said and bigger. He had a long, wicked tail and his shiny, serrated pincers clacked with menace, ripping up clouds with every swipe. Eight beady eyes, each one the size of a medicine ball, rolled and swivelled toward the Sky Knight. Scorpio reared up and bellowed, a terrible sound that made Connor clap his hands to his ears. “How am I supposed to fight that?” he cried. Lady Wyndham gently slid off the horse, and Connor did the same. With an earth-shattering whinny, the horse launched into the sky once more. “Where does he think he’s going?” Connor asked. “She,” said Lady Wyndham. “She is going home. Sky Knights never put an animal in harm’s way.” Scorpio unleashed another terrible bellow, shaking the ground below Connor’s feet. “That’s why this is going to be such a challenge,” said Lady Wyndham. “Because he’s so huge and dangerous?” asked Connor. “That, and the fact that we can’t kill him.” “Can’t or won’t?” “Won’t. Sky Knights never put-” “I know, I know. An animal in harm’s way.” Lady Wyndham ducked as a giant ball of yellow goo flew over her head. The scorpion roared and thundered towards them. The yellow goo burned a hole right through the clouds. Page 4
“Scorpion venom,” Lady Wyndham explained. “This way.” She ducked down to the ground, then leapt into the sky. Connor’s jaw dropped as he watched Lady Wyndham land on a spire hundreds of feet away. “Come along, Mr. Stuart,” she called. “The armour’s not going to do all the work.” Connor had no idea how she’d just made that incredible jump. He figured he might as well try, or risk being scorpion food in 3 seconds. He squatted down until his bum was almost touching the ground, then jumped. “Nice take-off,” said Lady Wyndham as he landed right beside her. Connor glanced over at Scorpio, who had lost them and was taking out his rage on the tall spire. “I guess so. Seriously, how am I supposed to fight Scorpio?” “You don’t fight him. You’ll distract him.” “Distract him.” “Yes. Wave your arms. Shriek. Call him names. Just get him to chase you.” Scorpio had scaled their spire and was warming up another venom ball. Connor rolled out of the way just in time as the venom hit the ground and took out half the spire. “Go! Run!” Lady Wyndham cried. Connor got to his feet and ran along the top of the castle wall. He heard Scorpio’s roar, and knew that the great bug was close behind him. “Come on, ugly!” he cried. “Dinner time!” Scorpio was fast. Whatever move Connor made to stay away, Scorpio was right there. The venom balls were getting closer and closer to hitting him, and one of those pincer swipes was going to knock him all the way back down to Earth. “Okay, Connor,” said Lady Wyndham over the helmet radio. “Just one more minute.” Scorpio took out the spire next to Connor, and the boy had to leap out of the way as cloud tumbled down all over the castle wall. Lady Wyndham glowed bright green, and a huge net appeared just over her head. Connor Page 5
had no idea where it had come from, but didn’t care right then. “Throw it!” he bellowed. Scorpio suddenly stopped attacking Connor and whirled around to face Lady Wyndham. The net flew towards the scorpion, but Scorpio dodged out of the way just in time. Connor watched in horror as the net sailed harmlessly past the bug and off into the sky below. Scorpio leapt across the castle and landed directly on top of Lady Wyndham. She screamed, and Connor didn’t know what to do. He squatted down to leap to her rescue. “Connor!” she whispered through the radio. “Don’t come over here!” “Why? You’re hurt!” “I can’t move, Connor. You need to take him out.” “How?” “You are wearing the most advanced piece of equipment ever invented. It can create anything out of thin air. Anything you can think of, it can make.” “Anything?” “Anything. You just can’t kill him.” Lady Wyndham screamed again as Scorpio roared. Connor had to hurry. He had to try the armour, even if he couldn’t believe it. He panicked, and thought of a can of bug spray. His suit glowed orange, and a massive can of ‘Scorpion Eradicator’ appeared before him. “Cool!” he cried. He jumped up to the top of the can and aimed the nozzle at Scorpio. “No!” shouted Lady Wyndham. “You can’t kill him!” The bug spray vanished. Connor tumbled back down to the ground in a heap. “What are you doing?” Connor squawked. “I had him!” “Sky Knights never harm any animal!” she said. “No matter how dangerous.” Connor kicked at the ground in frustration. Page 6
“Use your imagination,” said Lady Wyndham. Pacing back and forth, Connor wracked his brain for ways to defeat, but not destroy, a giant mutant scorpion. “If only he were smaller,” said Connor. “He’s just so big, it almost seems impossible-” ‘Impossible’ got Connor’s mind rolling. The realm of impossibilities was endless. “I can’t believe I’m going to try this,” he said. Connor shut his eyes and thought of a shrink ray. Something that would make it easy to catch Scorpio, but not kill him. His arms rippled with energy, and the orange glowed brighter than ever. Connor slowly opened his eyes, and sure enough, lying right in front of him was a ‘Shrink-o-Matic 9000.’ “Here goes,” he said, and picked up the shrink ray. He aimed it right at Scorpio and fired. Nothing happened for a moment, and then Scorpio let out a terrified roar. Scorpio appeared to vanish right before his eyes. Connor squinted and saw a tiny speck flailing and falling down the side of the castle, much to his horror. “Scorpio!” he cried, and dropped the shrink ray. He ran to the edge of the castle and leapt off. Scorpio was falling fast. Connor quickly thought up a jar to catch the scorpion, and caught the jar as it appeared before him. He twisted it open, and in a sweeping move worthy of major league baseball, caught Scorpio in the jar and twisted the lid back on. Connor landed and let out a whoop. Scorpio beat furiously at the jar with his pincers, and tried firing venom at the lid. “No way are you getting out of there, Scorpio,” said Connor. Lady Wyndham arrived right beside him, already riding her horse. She looked hurt, but okay. “The Sky Knights owe you one, Mr. Stuart,” she said. She reached down, took Scorpio from Connor, and tucked the angry scorpion into her saddlebag. Page 7
“I’ll be taking that back now, too,” she said, and with a quick flick of her green-glowing arm, the armour was stripped from Connor’s body. “Lady Wyndham, how do you become a Sky Knight?” he asked. Lady Wyndham smiled. She reached her hand out and it started glowing green. “Don’t worry, kid,” she said. “We’ll be in touch.” Connor’s heart soared higher than ever before. In a green flash of Lady Wyndham’s hand, he was transported back home. Simon, the broken glass, and the huge hole in ceiling were all gone. “Cool,” he said. He hoped next Saturday was even more exciting. THE END
THE END AUTHOR BIO: Jim Maher wrote his first children’s story, ‘Professor Jim’, when he was five years old. Twenty-five years later, after acting school, a few babies of his own, and a novel under his belt, Jim still loves sharing his stories. He lives in Canada with his amazing wife and three sons. ILLUSTRATOR BIO: Nathan Wyckoff has been an illustrator, painter and writer on the scene for over a decade. Between gallery shows, Nathan frequently publishes illustrations and fiction in numerous magazines, recently being nominated for an AWP Intro Journal Award for his weird poetry. His online illustration portfolio can be viewed at nathanwyckoff. squarespace.com.
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